aribell
formerly nicola.kirwan
This is a very insightful piece about growing in the ability to discern the spiritual season one is in.
Our God is a God of time and order. He set the universe in motion and allows it to work according to those principles. If He wanted to, He could make flowers to bloom in the winter, but He doesn't. He has an appointed time for all things. This author makes the point that our ability to know what is God's will for us now is directly related to our ability to discern what season we are in. Of course, God can do all things at all times, but like the flowers or the crops, if you don't plant at the right time, you get no harvest!
I love this line: "The key to flowing with God despite circumstances in life, is to understand that with God there is an appointed time or due season for everything…We are encouraged in Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not be weary in doing good, FOR AT THE PROPER TIME, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” By knowing the seasons we are far more able to “not give up.”
Here's the full text:
Our God is a God of time and order. He set the universe in motion and allows it to work according to those principles. If He wanted to, He could make flowers to bloom in the winter, but He doesn't. He has an appointed time for all things. This author makes the point that our ability to know what is God's will for us now is directly related to our ability to discern what season we are in. Of course, God can do all things at all times, but like the flowers or the crops, if you don't plant at the right time, you get no harvest!
I love this line: "The key to flowing with God despite circumstances in life, is to understand that with God there is an appointed time or due season for everything…We are encouraged in Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not be weary in doing good, FOR AT THE PROPER TIME, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” By knowing the seasons we are far more able to “not give up.”
Here's the full text:
[SIZE=+2]The Reality of Spiritual Seasons[/SIZE]
Submitted by Clay Sikes
“This is what the Lord says; Stand at the crossroads and LOOK; ask for ancient paths, and WHERE THE GOOD WAY IS, and WALK IN IT, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).
I recently experienced a retrospective revelation of sorts in that in one brief moment I saw various events in my life to include the time leading up to and including the time after certain events occurred in my life. As I began to search out the meaning of this vision, the Lord began to reveal to me an important phenomenon about spiritual reality. This phenomenon, and for me a revelation, was the fact that we are forever experiencing spiritual seasons while on earth and just as with those who farm, we have certain specific duties and responsibilities during each of these seasons. Just as any farmer who could not discern the times (seasons) in the natural, we too are far less able to know “The Good Way” without a spiritual discernment of the seasons (times) we are in.
There is direct linkage between PROPERLY discerning the times and accurately hearing God’s directional voice. A proper discerning of the seasons (times) fosters an accurate interpretation of exactly what “the good way” is.
Just as in the natural, spiritually we experience winter, spring, summer, and fall in virtually every element of our lives; ministry, marriage, spiritual growth, business, finance, relationships, etc. These individual aspects of life will experience seasons similar to what we face each year we live. Winter is a time of uncomfortable ness, a time to get warm and intimate with God, a time to rest physically and to exist on what has been stored from the previous harvest. It is a time of gaining direction for planting, to glean from past mistakes, to repair and prepare for the coming spring. Spring is a time of planting and activity, a time of work and effort to carry out instructions gained in winter, a time of great spiritual and physical energy and a time that great energy is required. It is a time of plowing new and sometimes hard ground and a time to fertilize the soil with prayer. Summer is a time of watering (praying) and weeding (doing warfare over) the freshly planted crop. It is a time in which the crop is in potential danger from the heat of summer, thus the need for much watering. It is also the time we begin to see the first evidence of our planting (First the stalk, then the ear, then the full colonel in the ear.) Fall is the time of harvest; a time where the physical evidence of our hard work during previous seasons has arrived. It is a time of Thanksgiving, a time of refreshing and a time for storing for the winter that is sure to come. Fall is a time of utilizing the harvest, of good stewardship and proper dispersing of what has been harvested.
Without the ability to discern the times (seasons), I have followed false leadings, heard incorrectly, sought harvest in winter, and in many cases, simply “missed God.” As I dove deeper into this revelation, the Lord began to open up the scriptures to me in a wonderful and fascinating way that not only explained the reality of spiritual seasons, but of even greater importance, allowed me to see that with this discernment I was now much more able to hear God correctly and more accurately know His direction for various times (seasons) in my life.
All of us in various ways are standing at some sort of crossroads (see Jeremiah 6:16). It is important to note that crossroads in this scripture refers to or means “place of decision.” We all make decisions everyday that produces the “rest” of God, or as often has been the case in my life, the unrest of God. The “rest” of God produces peace, joy, protection, provision and oneness with God. Unrest produces the opposite; said differently, bad decisions usually produce fleshly or soulish reactions. In recognizing that “the good way” will produce the “rest” which will produce peace, joy, protection, provision and oneness, one day while in prayer I asked God for any advantage that would allow me to better understand “the good way.”
Amazingly, he showed me Matthew 16:1-3, “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, when evening comes you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning, today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, BUT YOU CANNOT INTERPRET THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.”
Jesus is saying that you can discern the signs of the weather in natural things, but you are blind in discerning the season in spiritual things. The Lord then said another amazing thing to me in stating “It is the job, duty, and responsibility of the religious Pharisaical spirit that is prevalent in the Church today, and to some extent in us individually, to blind us to the discernment of spiritual seasons, hence relegating us to the natural realm. The Lord is calling us to discern the times, to judge not from what we see or hear (Isaiah 11:3).